Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on 31 August during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, China.
The meeting, set against the backdrop of regional cooperation and shifting geopolitical priorities, marks a renewed diplomatic effort between the two nations.
PM Modi will attend the summit at the invitation of President Xi, following the conclusion of his official visit to Japan.
This will be his first visit to China in seven years, and the first since the Galwan Valley face-off in June 2020, a critical flashpoint in India-China border relations.
The two leaders last met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, in 2024.
That engagement laid the groundwork for further dialogue and progress, particularly after India and China reached a significant agreement on patrolling protocols along the 3,500-km Line of Actual Control (LAC).
This agreement helped de-escalate the four-year-long military standoff.
Ahead of the Tianjin summit, Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong described PM Modi’s upcoming visit as a milestone.
“This visit will not only be vital for the SCO but also for bilateral ties,” Xu said in New Delhi, expressing optimism about the meeting’s success.
Preparations and Diplomatic Signals
On 19 August, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met PM Modi in New Delhi to personally deliver President Xi’s invitation.
During the meeting, PM Modi emphasised the need for peace and stability at the border, reiterating India’s commitment to a fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary issue.
Following the meeting, PM Modi posted on X, “Glad to meet Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Since my meeting with President Xi in Kazan last year, India-China relations have made steady progress guided by respect for each other’s interests and sensitivities. I look forward to our next meeting in Tianjin on the sidelines of the SCO Summit. Stable, predictable, constructive ties between India and China will contribute significantly to regional as well as global peace and prosperity.”
Glad to meet Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Since my meeting with President Xi in Kazan last year, India-China relations have made steady progress guided by respect for each other’s interests and sensitivities. I look forward to our next meeting in Tianjin on the sidelines of the SCO… pic.twitter.com/FyQI6GqYKC
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 19, 2025
Stable, predictable, constructive ties will contribute significantly to regional and global peace.”
A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office highlighted PM Modi’s appreciation for the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and reiterated India’s support for China’s SCO presidency.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, established in 2001, is a prominent regional security and economic forum. Its members include India, China, Russia, and several Central Asian nations.
The forum also hosts observer states like Afghanistan and Mongolia, and dialogue partners including Nepal, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
The Modi-Xi meeting comes at a time when both countries are recalibrating their regional strategies.
The outcomes of their discussion could significantly influence India-China ties, particularly concerning border stability, trade, and people-to-people exchanges. It also underscores India’s broader vision of regional peace through diplomacy within multilateral platforms like the SCO.
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